One of the great marketing slogans of all time might be “Virginia is for Lovers.” Who knows, they might still use that one. Valentine’s Day is for lovers. And here’s an argument that Valentine’s Day is for Pinot Noir lovers.

Over the past few years holidays like Halloween and Valentine’s Day have grown in popularity and celebration.

Valentine’s Day is the second largest card-sending holiday every year. There are estimates that more than 2.5 billion cards are sent each Feb. 14. The wine numbers are equally impressive. It’s hard to narrow down exactly when consumers pick up their Valentine wine but industry experts estimate more than $8.5 million is spent on wine for the lovers’ big day.

No column on Valentine’s Day would be complete without a quick history lesson. Yes, there was a Saint Valentine but that’s about where the agreement begins and ends. Officially, in the Catholic Church at least, Saint Valentine of Rome is the Saint most associated with Feb. 14. He is known as the patron saint for beekeepers, epilepsy, and of course engaged couples and happy marriages

Saint Valentine

And for all those engaged couples, happily married, or dating duos, it’s time to think about the lovers’ day on our annual calendar. A dozen roses, a nice dinner, great chocolate and an even better Pinot Noir can create an awesome and memorable holiday.

Let’s start with the chocolate and state the obvious. The names you know are not the ones you want to be pairing with your wine. Even with Pinot you want a darker chocolate. A good starting point for your chocolate is buy one with at least 60 percent cacao. Ghirardelli is a pretty good place to start. It’s easy to find and a really good mass-produced product. They flavor it up lots of different ways but keep it fairly simple with your wines.

Two great Indy area chocolatiers, and there are more than two, are Best Chocolate in Town on Mass Ave., and Chocolate for the Spirit, available online. Both make a high-end and elegant chocolate truffles and other treats worthy of your significant others. Sure, artisan chocolates aren’t going to come cheap – you can expect to pay $2-3 per chocolate truffle. But that’s the sort of gift your loved one is really going to appreciate.

Recommending a great Pinot in various price points and easy to find is tough but someone has to do it. If you are on a tight budget hit the local grocery wine aisle or liquor store and look for Mark West. The West pinot is almost always under $10, light bodied, but has correct Pinot Noir flavor.

It gets easier if you step up between $10-$20 price range there are many decent picks. Meiomi Pinot Noir is very widely distributed and sells around $16-$17. Meiomi Pinot is the biggest selling Pinot in the U.S. It’s a consistent product, perhaps a tad sweeter on palate than some, but a good choice.

Step up to the $20-$30 range then you’re talking significantly better wine. I’ve suggested in this column space many times that Lange Estate Winery’s Willamette Valley’s Pinot Noir is one of the best buy wines of any varietal. You can find it in better wine shops in the mid-$20 range.

If you want to splurge and go above the $30 price point, I’d recommend a great Oregon Pinot Noir. Bergstrom, Lange, Adelsheim, Winderlea, Domaine Drouhin, and Domaine Serene are just a few of the great names from Oregon. Those wines will be in a silky and refined style.

If you want something bigger look to Sonoma’s Russian River Valley or the California Central Coast.

Buy your bestie some really good chocolate and a nice Pinot Noir and your Valentine’s Day is sure to be a great one.

YAMHILL, Or. – I’ve always loved datelines. We’re near Yamhill, Oregon, up a windy road, at the top of a big hill, in the woods, a small herd of deer camping in our yard, and traces of Bigfoot out back.

All four of us on our wine buddy weekend are wined out, tired, and have convinced each other that smell really isn’t a Sasquatch.

Yes, our red farmhouse on a hill is remote but quite nice. Three bedrooms up, one down, a great kitchen, wrap around porch, and all for less than $300 bucks a night. The recent Air B&B movement and other such rental homes provide a homey feel without a Hilton price.

For most of the day we got our wine geek on. Our first stop was up in the Dundee Hills at Lange Estate Winery. Lange was my first stop in 2007 on my first visit. It’s a personal tradition I’ve continued and my three fellow travelers were happy to keep it going.

Jesse Lange

We all stopped to enjoy the view. In five stops at Lange, Friday was just the second when the skies were clear enough to see Mount Hood. With the withering and golden vines, the scene set the stage for a fabulous sunny day in the Willamette Valley.

We tasted our way through Lange’s lineup of a fabulous Pinot Gris and four Pinot Noir. The two tasting room attendants were very knowledgeable. We talked vineyards and aging and much more. It was a wine geek’s delight.

Even better, Jesse Lange joined us for a great discussion about vintage, marketing, family tradition and technical versus artisanal – – gut instinct – type of winemaking. Jesee has always been generous with his time during visits. And let’s acknowledge that not everyone gets access to the winemaker. But when visiting tasting rooms, don’t be afraid to ask questions. The more you learn about wine, the detail, the grape growing, aging, and more – the more you’ll enjoy your wine.

Bergstrom’s vineyard, barn

Bergstrom wines have a long history in the valley and I had never visited, neither had any of our group. So, we made our way up to the tasting There are many wineries in the valley that qualify as “boutique,” meaning small production and high-end wines. Bergstrom is simply one of the best. We tasted mostly their single vineyard Pinot Noir. They are fabulous wines. Bergstrom owns great vineyard sites and buy from some of the valley’s top spots like Temperance Hill and Shea.

Rebecca, our tasting room guide and 20-year veteran of wine sales, talked us through the difference from vineyard to vineyard. Bergstrom is also well known for Sigrid Chardonnay. The Sigrid bottling is in honor of founder John Bergstrom’s mother. John’s son Josh now runs the winery and makes the wine. Sigrid Chard is the best I’ve ever tasted in the valley and there are more and more great bottles. It is a multi-vineyard cuvee that is Chablis Grand Cru like with a bit less acidity.

A word about tasting room fees. Lange and Bergstrom charge a $20 tasting fee. In Oregon, the long tradition of waving tasting fees if you make much of a purchase lives on. In comparison, at many Napa tasting rooms where you’ll pay much more than $20 – forget about getting the tasting fee being waived. While Napa hospitality is the best in the world and extraordinarily professional, it often lacks the genuine warmth of the folks in the tasting rooms here.

We topped off the day with McMinnville visit. The town of 33,000 is the heart and historical center of Oregon Pinot Noir. Downtown is a bit hipster-ish but filled with great restaurants, tasting rooms, and quirky shops. The three other guys tasted through several wines at the Willamette Valley Vineyards tasting room while I appreciated the live jazz.

Rich, hot crab lasagna

We dined at the iconic Nick’s Italian Café – a James Beard award winner. A wonderful charcuterie board and meatballs got us started. The other guys had a sausage plate, fire-roasted game hen, and our youngest dude had an intriguing pasta with sausage and kale pesto. I had one of their signature dishes – unbelievable – Dungeness Crab Lasagna.

We enjoyed a single bottle of Italian Rosso di Montepulciano which was a nice change of pace after all that Pinot Noir.

Today is our busiest day. We’re going to start off at the quirky and interesting Republic of Jam, visit wineries Winderlea and Saffron Fields and then make a few wineries visit decisions while out on the road. We’re back to McMinnville for dinner tonight at Thistle – a chef-driven newcomer getting lots of attention.

PORTLAND, OR. – And so the adventure begins. Four wino buddies spending an extended weekend in Oregon’s Willamette Valley tasting, tasting, dining, and then probably tasting some more.

I’m going to journal about these days in Oregon. The idea is to share ideas of cost, planning, and the actual experiences that might provide some wine country touring perspective and maybe advice. So, let’s go:

All four of us live in Central Indiana. All of us flew out of Indianapolis but separately. In this day and age, with frequent flyer miles and bonus points, it’s a great way to travel. The guys who bought tickets paid slightly less than $400 for the round trip. I used flyer miles and paid $11. For the record, I used 32,000 points for my flight.

Interestingly enough, all four of us flew different carriers through different cities to get here. My flight was something of the traditional short hop to Chicago’s O’Hare then straight to Portland. One of our group actually had a connection from Houston. Yes, THAT Houston – as in Texas. I did that once through Dallas – never again.

If you’re flying to the Northwest, several airlines offer good connections going through Chicago, Denver, and Minneapolis.

We’re all staying near the airport since arrivals are late. I booked a Hilton Garden Inn for two of us with Hhonors points. I recall the normal room rate being $229. Obviously, near an airport all hotels are a little pricier but the convenience can be worth it.

The other two guys are just down the road from here. Tomorrow morning I’ll jet back over to the airport and pick up our Alamo Rental car. We have a midsize for Friday through Monday for $180. A tank of gas at the end of the trip and not a bad rental cost.

Friday morning we head to the valley. We’ll stop off and pick up a UPS wine shipping box or two to hold our purchases. Then Monday when we leave the valley we’ll each ship our wine home. I’ll elect UPS Air … so my wine will probably arrive Wednesday or Thursday after I get back Tuesday morning. I forget the exact cost from last trip but a full case by air is going to run $70 or a bit more.

I’ll write about the winery stops each day. We have done some pre-arrangment, maybe 40 to 50 percent of our stops. Friday we start off at Lange Estate Winery. I reached out to Jesse Lange who I’ve met several times and he’s going to join us for the tasting. After that, we head to Bergstrom wines – where we hope to have a little time with Josh Bergstrom. And we’ll cap off our first day winery visits by going to one of the real pioneering wineries, Adelsheim. Dinner for our first night will be at the iconic Nick’s Italian Cafe in McMinnville.

Our Saturday and Sunday plants are a little bit less structured. Friend Patrick and I have been out here numerous time while our other two travelers are making their first visit. We want them to help shape the experience.

So today’s travelogue will be followed by Friday’s real wine geekiness.

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